Saving the Bees

In touch with a client from East Goshen Township, Dan DiMucci, Senior Vice President, saw an opportunity to help the environment. Carmen Battavio, beekeeper and friend of Pennoni, maintains a bee community on his local property and has officially dedicated a hive to Pennoni as a thank you to the firm’s consistent sponsorship. Pennoni, an environmentally conscious multidiscipline engineering firm makes a concerted effort to stay involved in local green initiatives. The firm recently moved headquarters to an LEED building in Philadelphia, PA at 1900 Market Street, Suite 300. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and Pennoni is proud to join the LEED community.

Dan DiMucci says ‘I recently visited Carmen’s property and learned about his beekeeping. It was so interesting to learn how much his local efforts are helping the environment in a huge way, and I encourage everyone who is capable to follow his lead. It was especially rewarding to see Pennoni’s name on one of the hives. I love knowing how my company has my back when it comes to going green, and Carmen does too.’

So, what is killing the bees and why does it matter?

The protection of our bees has been an increasingly important topic, especially considering the following: Honey bees, both wild and domestic, perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, but fruits, nuts and vegetables are pollinated by bees. Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops — which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition — are pollinated by bees. (Greenpeace.org)

According to the environmental organization Greenpeace, bees are dying from a variety of factors—pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, global warming and more. Many of these causes are interrelated. The bottom line is this: humans are largely responsible for the two most prominent causes; pesticides and habitat loss. That’s why beekeepers such as Carmen Battavio are really making a difference.